On

June 8, 2015, Constable Daniel Woodall, of the Edmonton Police Service, was killed
while on duty. To recognize and mark this event, this poem was written in his honour
by current Edmonton Poet Laureate Mary Pinkoski.

It is evening in the city
(For Constable Daniel Woodall)

It is evening in the city
The heat of the sun is receding into the pavement
The magpies are stepping out of the shadows
The dusk is shuffling tiptoe into the sky

It is evening in the city
It is like every other evening in the city
Except somewhere on the west end
There is a flock of mourning doves
Rising into the wind from a police officers body

It is evening in the city
And, Constable Woodall, while the word fallen
slides off their tongues
While our flags begin to lower,
and kneel at half mast,
and tears begin to drop down Edmontons face

Constable Woodall, it is evening in this city
And despite all this falling
we are rising up in your memory

Thousands of Edmontonians raising their hands
Into the breeze of those mourning doves
Outstretch arms silhouetted by half mast flags
Catching waterfall tears
It is evening in this city
And, Constable Woodall, we are lifting you up

No, you will not be remembered as fallen

You will be known as resilient
Radiant in the face of adversity
A light attempting to seek out the shadows of hate
In this city and bring something of a brilliant beacon
To our community

It is evening and the night does not know
What tragic tale it holds on its tongue


It is evening and I know now that there is no story
anyone could tell that would rewrite this tragedy

There are no words,
No rhyme, no reason,
Even for this poet,
To understand what it means to give your life
In service to others
In service to this city

Thank you, Im sorry, Why
Do not seem effective
There is no dove song adequate enough
For compensation of sacrifice

Constable Woodall, Daniel, despite our fumbling disbelief
Our horror and sadness, our something inability to speak

I hope, amidst all of this, that you can also see
This city of concerned hearts bursting with love
For you, for the Edmonton Police Service,
For all first responders

It is evening and tonight
There are thousands of hearts
A calling of angels
beating strong
around your family
surrounding your wife and your children

Daniel, it is evening
And despite that the light is falling
that flags are falling
that hearts and tears are falling

We are not falling,
We are lifting you up
On the wind of our river,
Under a glowing blue bridge

We are lifting you up
Like the way hope rises off a hallejuah

It is evening and you are our amazing grace
Our blessing, our journey into understanding

How beautiful you worked to make Edmonton

You are our amen into a possibility
Into the hope carried in the phrase lest we forget


It is evening and even though
We may not always be sure of the way forward
Even though we may stumble
Even though we may find ourselves calling on some inexplicable force
To guide us through this,
To give use understand

Despite all of this,
We remain thousands of hearts beating
With your movement
Your vision
Your dreams for this city

Daniel, I hope you know, that in spite of everything
We are still loving,
Maybe we are even loving a little harder,
A little longer
In your memory

In your steadfast contribution to making Edmonton a better place,
We are loving in your honour

Daniel, we standing staring into the face of compassion
It looks like you
We are standing at the brink of concern and care
And it feels like you are standing here too

But it is evening in the city,
And I know you cant stop a flock of mourning doves
I know that wind and river run their own course

It is still evening in this city
and the moon is rising into the sky
a light drowning us despite the darkness
Go gently, Daniel

It is evening in the city,
And we are holding you up

Mary Pinkoski, Edmonton Poet Laureate (2013 2015)